‘The Way Home’ Teases New Mystery Involving Kat and Elliot in Season 2 Episode 4 [Recap]
The Way Home’s core mystery centers on Jacob Landry, who vanished mysteriously one night in 1999. The Hallmark Channel drama has gradually revealed more details about what happened to Jacob, where he ended up, and what he’s doing now. Over the course of the past season and a half, his older sister Kat (Chyler Leigh) has gotten closer to finding her missing brother. But as the show evolves, it’s introducing new characters and plot twists. One of those was foreshadowed in the show’s Feb. 18 episode, “Wake Me Up When September Ends.”
[Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Way Home Season 2 Episode 4.]
Kat and Elliot have another secret
Early in The Way Home’s second season, Kat visited the estate of the late Evelyn Goodwin to collect some items Evelyn had left to the Port Haven newspaper. The sprawling house contains its fair share of secrets. For one, Kat found a 19th-century portrait of a woman who looks suspiciously like herself. But Kat also seems to have some negative memories of the house itself. There have been several hints that something upsetting happened at the estate when Kat was a young woman, but so far, the show has been vague about the details.
At the end of episode 4, we got some more explicit hints about the incident. After Kat learns that Alice (Sadie Laflamme-Snow) continues to travel to the past, she opens up to Elliot (Evan Williams) regarding her fear of what Alice might discover.
“She keeps going back, doesn’t she?” Kat asks Elliot. “Is she gonna see?”
Elliot nods.
“She’s gonna hate me,” Kat says.
Elliot doesn’t agree. “No. Knowing you two, you’re going to be just fine,” he replies.
Very mysterious! What could have younger Kat done that would make Alice see her mother in a negative light? Elliot obviously knows what happened, but we don’t know yet if she did (or said) something to him, or if another person was involved.
Earlier in the episode, Kat and Elliot also manage to have a fairly calm conversation about her search for Jacob. Elliot has tended to be skeptical of the value of visiting the past and cautioned Kat about her efforts to change history. Now, he listens sympathetically as she shows him Jacob’s polaroids of the pond. He doesn’t know what they mean, but he mentions that Colton always told them to stay away from the water. Was that just him being a cautious dad? Or did he already know that the pond was more than what it seemed?
Kat’s been frustrated by her inability to find any record of Jacob’s existence in the past, leading her to fear that something horrible could have happened to him. Elliot offers to look through his father’s collection of old ship manifests in the hopes that Jacob might be mentioned in one of them.
Kat reveals the truth to Susannah
Kat knows that Jacob was alive in 1814. But because he’s away from Port Haven delivering a ship for the war between the British and the United States, she hasn’t been able to meet him. In “Wake Me Up When September Ends,” she travels back to the past again in the hopes that their paths will cross. Unfortunately, instead of finding Jacob, she stumbles onto a group of men celebrating the British army’s successful attack on Washington in the War of 1812.
The revelers include Thomas Coyle (Kris Holden-Ried), the man who shot Kat on her first visit to 1814. Cyrus Goodwin (Tim Post) arrives and chastises the men for rejoicing in the death of soldiers from the other side. He also makes some pointed remarks to Coyle about “suspiciously light” shipments of supplies for the British war effort, implying that Coyle is engaging in some shady business.
As Kat watches, Susannah Augustine (Watson Rose) shows up and pulls Kat away. She warns Kat that she needs to be more careful and that her strange clothes could draw unwanted attention. “Men fear what they don’t know,” she says. Susannah should know. She’s a healer, which makes her something of an outcast in her community (unless they need her skills, that is).
Sensing that Susannah will be more open-minded than most people about the possibility of time travel, Kat decides to open up to her. She reveals she’s a visitor from the future, as is Jacob – Susannah’s fiance. Susannah accepts Kat’s story, noting that it explains why she was drawn to Jacob, as they’re both different from those around them. When Kat expresses concern about Jacob’s absence from the historical record, Susannah reassures her. History is just a story written by the winners, she says. In the case of Port Haven, that’s Cyrus Goodwin.
Brady proposes to Kat
As Kat continues her quest to find Jacob, Alice is busy making her own journeys to the past. This time, her trip takes her to the fall of 2001, when everyone is still reeling from the shock of the 9/11 attacks. Young Elliot (David Webster) is also having a difficult time since Kat (Alex Hook) left with Brady (Siddharth Sharma). Unfortunately, Kat’s return doesn’t ease his misery. In fact, it makes it worse. When she and Brady return to Port Haven for a visit, Elliot and Alice overhear Brady telling Del (Andie MacDowell) that he plans to ask Kat to marry him.
Elliot is devastated. He loves Kat, and he didn’t realize that her relationship with Brady would turn so serious so quickly. Now, he’s missed out on his chance to tell her how he feels. He begs Alice to tell him about the future and whether he ever has a chance with Kat. She’s hesitant to reveal too much, but she tries to reassure him. “Knowing the two of you, you’re going to be just fine,” she says. (Later, Elliot repeats those same words to Kat in the present.)
Not only does teen Elliot have to deal with serious heartbreak, but Brady enlists him to photograph his over-the-top, Moulin Rouge-themed proposal to Kat. The song and dance routine is too much for Kat, but she and Brady do agree to get married in a quieter moment by the water. Unbeknownst to them, Alice is nearby watching, while Elliot stands in the distance, capturing the moment on film. Of course, we know that Kat and Brady’s relationship ultimately doesn’t work out. But it’s still a sweet moment to witness as they commit to building a future together following the heartbreak of Jacob’s disappearance, Colton’s death, and a global tragedy.
New episodes of The Way Home Season 2 air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on Hallmark Channel. Episodes also stream the next day on Hallmark Movies Now.
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